Ice statues have become increasingly popular for use as promotional tools or for special occasions in a number of different situations. In the past such statues have been sculpted or carved by hand from a solid piece of ice, however, this obviously is a time consuming process with high labour costs. To overcome these disadvantages, moulding methods have been used to produce ice statues which are similar in form to ice sculptures. Whilst some disadvantages are associated with moulding ice statues, generally this procedure has proved relatively effective in enabling statues to be produced. Difficulties, however, arise with the known moulding processes.
Australian Patent No. 596009 in the name of Lipke and Lipke discloses apparatus for forming ice sculptures including a mould assembly fitted with a liner formed of latex rubber for holding water to be frozen to form the sculpture. So as to prevent cracking in certain parts of the sculpture, particularly narrow portions thereof, the mould members are provided with means to vary the rate of heat transfer through the mould accomplished by either perforating parts of the outer mould member or employing insulating materials adjacent certain areas of the mould. A mould assembly of the above described type requires a number of separate parts which must be assembled prior to use. Placement of the perforated areas or insulated areas is critical to achieving a well defined moulded product. Furthermore, the time involved in producing an ice sculpture using the method and assembly disclosed in the above patent is relatively long, requiring extensive freezing and thereby resulting in increased cost of production. Further disadvantages occur because of leakage around the split mould and in demoulding without causing damage to the end product.
The present invention aims to overcome or alleviate one or more of the above disadvantages by providing improved moulding apparatus. The present invention also aims to provide a method for producing moulded products using the moulding apparatus according to the invention.